Omaha daily bee., 1887-08-21
More Man n 70 ctures.

God made the country but man made |
the city," The great cities OF the old |
world and some American cities have be. |
come popuous by reason Of natural ad-
vantages. But the modern city is chiefly
the outgrowth OF active forces controlled
by enterprising men. Omaha Is one OF
those cities. Her rapid growth as com.
mercial centre Is not so much due to 10
cation and natural resources as it is to the
energy, industry and tact of her leading
business men and capitalists. Much OF
her recent growth is due to public i'm
provements. but great deal more to
enterprises like the South OmaHa stock
yards and packing houses to the increase
OF manufacturing facilities and extcntion
of the jobbing trade.
Intelligent men doubtless realize that
public improvements cannot 60 on forever
at the present pace, and jobblng alone
will not give sufficient employment to
population which must for the most part
be. made up OF wage-workers. We may
safely assert that the Omaha smelling
works and Union Pacific shops employ
more wage workers than are employed
by all our jobbing houses.
That Omaha's future depends largely
upon her ability to stimulate and increase
manufacturing industries goes without
saying.
A striking exhibit of what can be done
by citydevoid of natural resources is
furnished by the city of San Francisco,
which now boasts population Of over
100000. With hgh.priced labor and
costly fuel San Francisco has built up
very extensive manufactures within the
past ten years. which employ over 10000
wage workers. There are in San Fran
cisco 100 large and small boot, shoe and
slipper factories, employing 5000 hands,
and turning out manufactured products
of the value of IS, 400, 900; 285 cigar fac
tories, with 4,50O hands, and an output of
the value of So, 900 900; 35 foundrics and
machine and boiler shops, employing
1000 hands, and making goods to the
value of $G,0O0,0 900; Is sash, door and
blind factories, with I, 600 hands, and
product value of SO. 600. 900; 1900 hands
are employed on clothing, and the pro-
duct of their labor is valued at 81, ,000, 900;
there are -four and feed mills, giving
w SOV LlCu, ohu Sut hiuk Out
| So, ,OOO worth of manufactured pro.
ducts.
| There is no reason why Omaha can
not become a great industrial centor, If
the wide.awake and enterprising men
who have contributed so much to her
commercial supremacy will put their
shoulders to the wheel. The raw ma
terials which are handled by the South
Omaha packing houses. converted into
manufactured products would furnish a
solid basis for scores OF factories and
give permanent employment to thou
sands of men. The hides of the cattle
and sheep slaughtered here, converted
into leather would supply material for
tanneries, shoe and glove factories. The
horns and hoofs could be converted into
products which our jobbers now import
from eastern factories. The bones could be
converted into glue and other marketa-
bic materials. Nebraska's wool product
could just as readily be converted into
blankets and other coarse woollen fab
RIGS, as the wool OF California is at San
Francisco. If that city can support
nine Touring mills why cannot an equa
number prosper in Omaha?
This is only suggestive. We canno
begin too soon to stimulate manufact
ures, because in the end they must be
come our ma instay. One way to stimu
late manufactures will be to reduce tn
cost Of living. We cannot hop
to compete with Eastern factories wit
our high-priced labor, and workingme
cannot labor in Omaha for lower wage
until the cost of living and rents hav
been reduced. The only way to reduc
the cost Of living is to give the laborer
chance to buy his vegetables, butter
eggs, and provisions from first-hand, o
a public market. With the price of liV
ing reduced, there will be no impedimer
to making Omaha great industris
: centre.